Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Back from holiday

Well I've been back from holiday and betting again since Saturday. In that time I've had 5 losing days in a row so things have continued as I left them before my break. Really not helped by the notice that I missed a big winner on the Saturday while I was away which would've netted me about £700!! But "thems the breaks"!!

Good thing is I feel I'm in a more manageable place with things and in control. I'm in damage limitation mode at the moment and I've reduced my stakes to levels that I am more comfortable with. This will not make me money with some of the more expensive services I have signed up to but will (if I actually start winning) help cover my costs which is where I want to be at the moment.

A complete overhaul is required to suit my staking and my lifestyle and an amount of work put in to do that. Watch this space!!

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Holiday update

I'm off on holiday for 10 days so won't be betting. While betting will contribute to spending money for this hol it'd be fair to say my roi across the portfolio has been dismal. The last two days at goodwood have been abysmal. My fear of special festivals is fully justified.

7 months into the year and virtually zero return for a significant effort and outlay isn't good. To be fair alot of it is of my own doing. An imbalanced portfolio and sticking with dead wood for too long is my doing. My two key services are underperforming: equine investments and Slh. I still have faith in them but certainly not helping. Tipping legends have been a disaster and I should've dropped them about three months ago. As the commentor on the last post says Roger green 100pts profit in July and I'm still in the red!!

So, what now? No bets on hol. I need a break and an overhaul on my return. Will post more when I am back.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Been a long time

Sorry not be posting much over recent weeks. Am still betting and still it feels like wading through treacle at the moment.

Will update in more detail over the coming weeks.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

More Changes

Just thought I'd drop a quick post to say I've made a couple more changes to my portfolio over the last couple of days;

1) I've signed up to The Daily Bargain from CD-Systems (Steve Jones) so looking forward to this - certainly looks profitable and not very time intensive.

2) Decided to stop on Double The Odds - was going to wait and see how things progressed to end of July (although i'm subscribed to the end of the year) but think it's time for me to throw in the towel. No profit last year and not heading in the right direction this year despite Berties Dream coming in at 50/1 earlier in the year!! Spent £800 over the 2 years in subs and time to bite the bullet and stop and focus my bets and time on better turnover services. Suspect that a couple of big winners could come out and turn things round quickly but the problem is that i'm not wanting to wait and I think 15 months is a long enough time.

More changes to come for sure.

Good day at Ascot today with 3 winners and a couple of places. Onwards and upwards!!

Saturday, June 12, 2010

May Update

Here's stats for May - best month of the year so far thanks mainly to Steve Lewis Hamilton but wasn't as good as I'd hoped with a poor show from Equine Investments and another dreadful month from Double The Odds.

Pleased with the start from The Nagman - and I missed one winner with them so could've been better. 4PA back in form.

Short run attempt from me to make Packed Pockets pay but I gave up pretty quickly as the odds were cut so quickly it was virtually impossible for me to get on at recommended prices.



Remember points profits are what I've achieved and may differ from official stats from the tipsters + my spreadsheet isn't perfect so could be a few other anomolies in the figures.

Taking subs into account thats a decent month in terms of profit - in the region of £700 which would be a decent supplemental monthly income for someone like me who also works full time! Reality is I'm still down on the year by over £300 and really shouldn't be expecting to wait until almost the half year to make a profit.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

A couple of changes...

Thought I'd just post a note to say I've made a couple of changes to my portfolio;

1) I've stopped subscribing to the Mathematician. Not too difficult a decision from a financial perspective in the end as without going into the nitty gritty of the emails it's unlikely i'm going to make a profit with the service going forward. Even with account bets its difficult to see a profit despite some near misses recently and i haven't really made a profit on this service for well over a year. From an emotional point of view its a big step change as the Mathematician was the first tipster I signed up to about 4 years ago following the review from Progambler and it was Mathematician that got me started on this game. I think it marks a step change in my approach - this is a business and i need to make a profit. Probably sounds daft to seasoned hard headed punters but for me its a big change. One in the right direction as well. Thanks to Guy for all the good times!!

2) Signed up to Roger Greens Royal Ascot special so looking forward to that. Roger is the old other half of Tipping Legends for those who don't know. Back into the horse tipping business on his own. more to follow on this!

Thursday, June 3, 2010

It's been a while...

At the beginning of May i was quite downhearted about this whole business. Things hadn't been going well and i was seriously questioning my strategy.

I'd started reviewing my tipsters and deciding which to go forward with. Unfortunately work commitments have got in the way and I've not had a chance to do anything more with it other than keep putting the bets on and catching up with my recording of all the bets

Which has been a good thing as May was really a good month. SLH back on form big time and I felt even more comfortable with my exposure to SLH by capping at 2pt bets. This reduced my profit for the service in May but certainly reduced my risk so happy with that. Also worth mentioning Tipping Legends who've had a 2nd good month in a row. I was ready to throw in the towel with TL at the beginning of the month but the following paragraph in an email from JC helped me keep the faith for longer - the stats from some back testing of what JC is good at... am hoping that keeping the faith is the right decision to make...

Adding the very simple & logical filter...
435 bets, 27.8% were profitable, profit of 439 pts & a ROI of 75.6%!!! ( The ROI at SP was 40%!) Even Saturdays produced an ROI of 28.9%

Will provide a lot more detail over the coming few days to keep you updated with whats going on.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Service Review

As I mentioned I was going to spend some time over the last few days having a think about what i was going to do with the services that I subscribe to following what can only be described as an awful year so far.

I spent some time thinking about the article that appeared in a recent secret betting club betting portfolio magazine by "Mr Gekko" and comparing that to where I am with services that I subscribe to and my personal experience with them.

I rated them in my spreadsheets Red, Amber and Green - you can tell I've been a project manager in my time!! My thoughts are below;

Steve Lewis Hamilton
It would be fair the last 2/3 months have not been good for SLH. With a few successful side bets I've managed to make SLH work over a longer period where other people have struggled I believe. I confident that things will turn around and my subscription is due to end in Jan 2011 and I will continue to bet with my current staking plan. Clearly there's always a chance to review if results fail to move again but at the moment, despite the set up and structure and lack of transparency I am happy with SLH and the service has been wildly successful for me since i signed up in the middle of 2008.

Status: Green
View: Retain subscription

Equine Investments
I'm into my 2nd year of subscribing with Equine - the first year in terms of ROI was spectacular. Reviewing my bets and staking following some of that Mr Gekko information it was particularly clear that for an expected 10% ROI I was staking well below the average bet level.

This is because Equine Investments is an expensive service. Justifiably so - my ROI for 2009/10 was 49%. This is below official figures but I have limited access sometimes and prices do move. I accept that as the reward is greater than the limitations.

So I need to up my staking to make my minimum criteria which is 3x the monthly cost. To do this I have increased my 1 point stake to £30.

Status: Amber (not because of quality of service but because of my betting structure)
View: Retain subscription

More later...

Monday, May 3, 2010

Bank Holiday Weekend Washout

Well it didn't rain here but my God the tipping was absolutely bloody awful this bank holiday weekend.

Make it now 37 bets;

1 winner, 1 place, 35 losers.


Now I'm totally bought in to this long term chat and that you're going to have periods like this but this really is awful. Is this the best that there is????

It was a real blow to see JP signing out his blog on Friday. But I can totally understand why he has done it and I'm sure the feeling of responsibility of updating the blog every day was an added burden with so many people following and commenting. It was a great read. But when someone like JP is struggling to make it work you have to wonder whether it's worth doing.

Lets be honest the last 6 months have been inconsistent for a number of tipsters and all I've managed to do is break even and just about cover the subscriptions for all the services. What's the point of all the time spent on it if that's all you're going to do? Clearly there are exceptions to the general awfulness - Equine Investments, Football Elite, and Each Way Value are the three I subscribe to that would be excluded from this - but overall it's been poor poor poor.

I'm finishing off my April results which will look ok but once you take subs into account thats the money gone. I'll hopefully post these shortly.

I'm away with work for a few days but taking some stuff with me and making some decisions about what to do next.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

31 bets!!! Guess the return!

31 bets this first weekend of May from tipsters that aren't too cheap!

The return? 1 winner, 1 place and 29 losses.

Maybe a pin and a copy of the racing post and I'd get on better??

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

A long time coming...

That title could potentially refer to my lack of posting recently. Apologies for that. Things have been hectic again.

It also could refer to the recent turn in fortune over the last week or so. Up until the start of Punchestown I was looking at another awful month but things have very rapidly turned around and I'm hoping that by the end of the month we'll have a decent profit in place. Steve Lewis Hamilton came good yesterday last night and I watched the race on my PC... my heart was beating somewhat strongly towards the end but very pleasing. I hope its the start of a turnaround. Not a good idea for me to watch races I tell you!

Signed up to the Nagman following a review by ProGambler and JP mentioning on his blog and started off quite well. Looking at Packed Pockets as well now with v small stakes. Thinking about Personal Info but seem to have a lot of subs coming off at this time of year so may pause for a while on new services!!

Trying to keep overall staking within the same amount and I'll provide more details when i can.

Off to Musselburgh on Friday so looking forward to that.

Will post updates hopefully before then.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

March Update & Other Thoughts

I had finished my March stats a while ago but haven't had a chance to upload them. Make for pretty grim reading which will come as no surprise. Without Berties Dream at Cheltenham it really would've been tears before bedtime so thanks to Double The Odds and Each Way Value (and of course Berties Dream) for keeping my dream alive!!

Here's the table;


Note that the Each Way Value bet on Berties Dream I had decided to double my stakes on EWV bets that day so there was a bit of lady luck shining on me there.

So really a poor end to the quarter overall which leads me to my next table, which is a summary of Q1 overall (including subscriptions);



A really disappointing start to 2010 which follows a disappointing end to 2009 and I haven't really had a particularly successful period since October.

It's certainly motivating me to put more work into this and makes me realise it's certainly not a case of putting the money on and watching the cash roll in. To make this successful you need to run it like a business.

Unfortunately April isn't heading in a positive direction either and I'm about £300 down at the moment.

So, what next? Really feel like i've made my first step on the right road with my decision re SLH bets. Need to do the same for Equine Investments although it's a matter of personal interest there as the service is hugely successful with the point structure the way it is.

On the watch list for me are;

* Mathematician (I've been with for several years but can't let sentimentality get in the way)
* Tipping Legends (not got a warm feeling at the moment despite a positive April so far)
* Tipping Legends Golf (not sure golf betting is for me - the gaps between successes are too long)
* Punter Profits (is it ever going to turn round - the stats say yes, my bank balance says no!!)

Have a few angles on personal bets that i hope will bear fruit. I've made a small profit in April so far on these.

Also need to make a decision as to whether i join any new services but must be at the expense of existing.

Will keep posting.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Steve Lewis Hamilton (SLH) Analysis - Pt 3

I've completed some additional analysis and having had 24 hours to mull over what i found out yesterday I've made a decision on my staking plan for SLH.

I replayed the results over the same period as yesterdays analysis with level staking of £70 win or £35 e/w for each bet and the results are quite interesting. See table below;



Overall profit has gone up by £749 an it's taken £1,208 less in stakes to get there which bumps my overall ROI up to spectacular 61.33% from a not to be sniffed at 52.69%.

For me it's a no brainer - I'm moving to level stakes for SLH bets.

I think I'd feel more comfortable staking that way as it will certainly smooth out returns as well.

I terms of total stake over the period I was comfortable with the amount staked so I am moving my staking upwards to mean that I bet roughly the same amount overall. This will take me to £75 win and £37.50 each way.

I'm quite happy with this and I think the analysis has reassured me that I'm making the right decision - certainly never wanted to be lumping £105 or £140 on 4 point bets for a couple of reasons;

(1) I've not been doing this for long enough to feel comfortable with such large stakes and
(2) It's drawn the attention of too many bookmakers and my bets are being restricted more and more.

I'll say my only caveat to this is for e/w doubles that are more than 1pt e/w then I will follow the staking plan - the reward is worth the risk for these.

I'm going to do the same analysis with equine investments to see if i can realistically move from points based to level. Also need to update my March results to give you the final position (it wasn't pretty despite Berties Dream winning at 50/1!)

Hopefully you find this useful for your own betting strategies as well.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Steve Lewis Hamilton (SLH) Analysis - Pt 2

I've managed to complete some further analysis on SLH bets and it makes for some interesting reading. I've brought the stats right up to date so includes the two account bets yesterday.

The total table is below split by points.



I've covered the period from 08 October 2008 which is when I know my record keeping is relatively robust - this is a few months after i started with SLH as you'll know from previous posts.

The table assumes £35 per point. Over the period I've been with SLH I've increased my points stake from £25 per point to £35 per point so i had to go back and alter stakes and profits to bring it all in line to my current stake level. Took some time I tell you!!

What it does show clearly that the service over the period i have been with it is hugely profitable - a whopping 52.69% ROI. Interestingly the 3 point bets have been the least successful and if I'd ignore all bets apart from the 2 pointers I would have had a return of 104.16% over the period.

The next three tables split the years down;

2008



2009



2010



Certainly shows that there's been a drop off in profit in 2010 with ROI this year currently sitting at 2.55% which isn't great, nor is it comparable with the same period of 2008 and 2009 BUT still the 2 point bets are producing a very very healthy profit. It's everything else that isn't great this year and dragging ROI down.

I think i need to make a decision on how to play SLH going forward;

1) Do I continue as is, accepting suggested staking plan; or
2) Do I drop the 1 and 3 point bets which don't show a profit over the 18 months i've covered; or
3) Do I go to level stakes.

I've almost completed some level stake analysis which makes interesting reading and probably confuses my simple brain further. Will finish that off tomorrow.

All comments welcome.

"Grand" National....

Sorry it's been so long since I've updated. Things have been a bit hectic of late. Good news is that I managed to come out the back of another big meeting relatively unscathed. Small profit I am presuming over the course of the three days at Aintree but I have to say between my wife and I we had bets on about half the horses in the national and didn't get a single place other than Black Apalachi which I'd put a fiver on based on someone on Danny Bakers radio show claiming that his goldfish went mental every time he mentioned that horses name!! I'd only heard the story second hand when i was in the pub... It's a funny old game....

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Steve Lewis Hamilton (SLH) Analysis

I've finally managed to getting round to completing my analysis of SLH results since I joined the service. This was on the back of feelings that the points waged didn't have an impact on the chances of winning (if you know what i mean). It's also part of some work I'm doing on my staking plans and where to go next with some of the tipsters.

First thing I've done with SLH results is a basic analysis on the number of bets and points and percentage winners / losers.

(see below for some caveats to the table)



As you can see the 2 point bets are the most common - which is good news as they are the most successful bets in terms of winners. 1 point bets are the least successful bets (as you would expect). 4 point bets 2nd most successful and 3 point 3rd most. Now I would expect the 4 point bets to be the best, 3 point next etc.

What that does do is strenghthen the arguement for moving to level stakes for SLH. I'm going to do two more things - (1) split the table into years and then (2) compare level stakes to points stakes and see where we end up! I'm also going to do some work on strike rate over time etc.

The time I've been with SLH has been incredibly successful and while strike rate in 2010 certainly looks like its been lower, I'm still in profit for 2010 and I can not fault the service over the long term - I know there are many doubters now out there - my recommendation would be - stick with it! (or maybe don't - then it would be easier to get bets on at recommended prices!!) ;-)

The information is taken from my personal spreadsheets and worth pointing out some caveats to the table;
1) I joined SLH in July 2008 so records only from then

2) My spreadsheet update work has at times been poor so some bets will be missing or inaccurately input and there are periods when I was on holiday that will also be excluded

3) Results only up to 19 March 2010

4) Overall therefore I'd suggest I'm about 95% accurate but still a good guide.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Cheltenham Day 4

On Thursday night my account was sitting at its lowest point I'd ever seen it for a single month... -£1,280 and I'll be honest with you it was feeling pretty painful all in all despite in the back of my mind i know this is a long term game and i've had losing periods before...

Thanks to a fantastic last day on the betting front I walked out the other end of Cheltenham with my account now sitting at -£48!! I know not in profit but much much better!!

Big winner of the day was Berties Dream at 50/1 in the 2.40 at Cheltenham which both Each Way Value and Double The Odds put up.

I'd decided to double my stakes on Each Way Value and what a day to do it!! Double The Odds purple patch continued and i manged to get 55 on Betfair!

Happy days...

It was a good day overall. I'd had a some side bets on Imperial Commander, Pigeon Island and Pause & Clause with the work syndicate I was in so was well chuffed...

Will be back as much as possible with updates etc over the next few days.

It's a funny old game!

Friday, March 19, 2010

Cheltenham Day 3 Update

Apologies there was no update last night - went out for a few beers!

Not celebrating winnings unfortunately...

So not looking too pretty now after a dismal day today - it's certainly been a tricky festival - scores on the doors for me are;

Day 1 +£411
Day 2 -£67
Day 3 -£498
Balance -£154

So running in negative and my fear of the big meet is materialising... but there's always tomorrow!! Who to pick in the big race!! Decisions decisions... It was Denman vs Kauto Star that got me really into this game. Ladbrokes had £100 free bet offer so I whacked £100 on Denman to win and the rest is history.... For value its got to be a pick outside the top 2. Maybe...

Found it a right struggle getting bets on all week though - I've been at work so relying on mobile betting - all the sites are quite slow due to volumes of punters. May take this week off next year...

On a brighter note the work syndicate is doing well and we're about £200 up so i'm sure we'll blow it all tomorrow....

Good luck for tomorrow!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Cheltenham Thoughts - Day 2

Day 1 picks weren't too bad. Lets say you bet 1 point on each horse to win then you'd be 7 points up on those picks!! Lets see where we are at the end of the 4 days....

Ok here are my picks for tomorrow.

1.30 - Massasoit

2.05 - Gonna go for Rite of Passage

2.40 - My picks would be Punchestowns and an e/w on Burton Port

3.20 - you'd imagine it would be between Master Minded, Twist Magic or Kalahari King. But I'm gonna go e/w on Golden Silver. Currently 50/1

4.00 - Like the look of Hampshire Express

4.40 - No idea but would probably go e/w on Open day

5.15 - Shot from the hip with an e/w on Dare me

Also got a wee syndicate going at work and we're up £190 on first day so all so fari so goodi!

Cheers

Cheltenham Day 1 Update

Well can't complain at all today and ended up on the day with £280 profit so happy with that.

Winners were;

SLH - 2 bets, 2 winners! Hopefully back to form. Steve sounded more confident on the phone so here's hoping that continues

Tipping Legends - huge amount of bets as expected but came out with a small profit so definitely an improvement over recent times.

Each Way Value - goes from strength to strength with a winner and a place today so very impressive!

Losers were;

Mathematician - two account bets - nothing doing at all.

4PA - unlucky indeed!

Punter Profits - two more losers.

Not a bad day at all - hopefully day 2 will be as good!

Monday, March 15, 2010

Cheltenham Thoughts

Well I've been sucked in and done some basic analysis of the racing tomorrow and applied some science to it and here are my picks for racing tomorrow. Please don't bet on them but just for info really;

1.30: I would go for either Get Me Out Of Here or Menorah.

2.05: No idea but suspect it's between Captain Cee Bee, Sizing Europe and Somersby. Probably stating the obvious there.

2.40: If you forced me to pick one it would be Bensalem

3.20: I'm going for Solwhit

4.00: Garde Champetre is the favourite but I'd pick Monkerhoiston

4.40: A couple of e/w bets for me would be between Amber Brook, Aura About You or Sway.


Not sure I could ever be a tipster as I could never decide on a final pick as you can see!!

Mad March

Just totted up my figures pre Cheltenham kicking off tomorrow and wasn't pleasant reading.

Losses have topped £1000 so far this month and we're on the 15th!!

Only Each Way Value from the Secret Betting Club guys is showing a profit for the month. Means that I'm in negative territory for 2010 now.

Only caveat to that is that Double The Odds I've still to tot up (usually wait to end of month to do that) and they've had a storming March so clearly things will be a lot better than they currently show.

Good luck for the rest of the week! Here's to a big one!!

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Lean Times - Not always though!

Certainly not been the greatest few weeks on the horses and in the lead up to Cheltenham it would be better to have had a good war chest ready and waiting to fund the battle with the bookies!!

Inevitably there's going to be a lot of bets on next week and as I mentioned in my last update, the big meets never really get me going. Sometimes it feels like there are too many bets flying about, too many horses in each race with a stake in and it all makes it feel very daunting and nerve racking!! I don't recall Cheltenham being that profitable for me last season and I remember a huge amount of betting being done. Unfortunately my records over that period aren't that up to date. Had a quick scan through JP's blog and while the Cheltenham week was profitable for him that was largely due to Leau De Nil winning for SLH at 50/1 or 33/1 which wasn't even a Cheltenham bet!! And actually Cheltenham turned out to be a heavy loss. I thought SLH was going to do the same on Saturday with a 40/1 shot but it was to no avail!!

Well I'm staying in a positive frame of mind and hoping things turnaround. Thought I'd give you some of my betting highlights over the last wee while for me - these are the things that remind me of why I started this and why it's all about the long term;

SLH - 31/01/09 - Amoro Mio / Thetwincamdrift - (2pt e/w dbl) - I mistakenly doubled the bet (lord knows how) and came out smiling - made just shy of £2k on that bet and the two accompanying singles!!

SLH - 09/03/09 - Leau De Nil - (1pt e/w) - put the bet on what was the 2nd day of my honeymoon - made £1250 - paid for the holiday there and then!

SLH - 30/10/09 - Tarvini / Dawn Ride (personal dbl) - put the dbl on following the SLH single tips and totted up £2k on the day!!

Equine - July 09 - racked up the best part of £2k in one month as the winners kept on coming!!

Equine - 22/08/09 - Bertoliver / Fanjura (dbl) - was rushing to a football match in London and almost forgot to put this one on. Glad I didn't as it made me £700.

You can see these highlights have come from SLH and Equine - definitely the best performing tipsters I've signed up to. I know SLH is having a lengthy lean time but he'll come back for sure and we'll see these profits again!!

It's all about keeping the faith!!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

February Update

Well I'm back from my travels and it's been a tough week getting the bets on. Most days it would've been better that I hadn't bothered but it's been a ticking over kind of week.

I've managed to finalise my February figures and these are below.

Overall not really a very good month and while we've eked out a profit, taking off subscriptions (which I will do at the end of the quarter) it will be a losing month.

Mention has to go out to Equine Investments again for another great month. Superb profit over the period of the subscription and will be missed as they pack their bags for a break at the end of the week until the new season starts. Also worth mentioning Football Elite - going from strength to strength and good to see The Mathematician finding some decent form again.

February last year was a dire month with a loss of over £300 for me so an improvement at least!!

For 2010 in total that's me with £888 in the bank (before subs) so a pretty slow start to the year. It's not been a great 2010 for Tipping Legends, Double The Odds and Punter Profits but as always it's about the long term!!

Let's see what Cheltenham brings. Although I don't really look forward to the big meets as they never seem to produce a profit for me. Think sometimes people feel there's too much pressure to put tips out. Maybe this time will be different and I'll be singing and dancing by the end of next week...





Remember the point to note;

The profit / points are based on the odds I got, not the odds quoted. This could be either because the odds weren't available, I don't have accounts with particular bookies, I have been restricted on particular bookies or because I was slow in getting the bet on. The work I do means that i can't always get to place bets immediately and I have to live with that.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Sunday Sunday!

I'm struggling with titles for each posting so that's the first thing that came into my head.

Certainly a tough week in terms of the account with pretty much nil return on all fronts!

Saturday was dismal although gutted in the 3.10 at Newbury when Big Fella Thanks came in and the two horse tipped by 4PA finishing 2nd and 3rd instead of 1st and 2nd as we would've wanted!! Big Fella Thanks only being in the race to educate him to jump at speed!! Oh well - c'est la vie!

Better week next week for sure!! I'm on the road which makes it exceedingly hard to get bets on and updates (if any) will be brief!

Oh and thanks for the comments - good to know people are reading my ramblings!

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Not good, not good! But not all bad...

Another poor day today although it wasn't all doom and gloom.

SLH has certainly taken a bit of pasting this week - the margins are so tight it's amazing - so 4pt loss today from Aim for the Stars in the 4.30 at Ludlow. Horse finished 4th - I haven't watched the race but 2 lengths behind 3rd and that's a £140 hit. Yesterday - the biggest of the 3 bets, 3pts on Wiesenfurst in the 3.10 at Folkestone - came 2nd by a short head!! £105 down!

But hey ho - the short term is the short term and in this business it's all about the long term. Feels like a slog sometimes but that is the way it is.

Nice win from Each Way Qualifiers today - I asked for 12 on betfair and it was matched before start for Mafeking in the 6.20 at Wolverhampton. Certainly a great service now - renewal up on the 11th March and I will certainly re-subscribe - the existing member price is a tremendous deal for the return.

Double the Odds have certainly found some form as well - couple of good price winners in the last few days; Escortman coming in the 2pm at Kempton on Saturday at an SP of 29 on betfair and Inga Bird delivering yesterday so taking some of the pain away from the losses. Hope this is DTO turning the corner!

So I'm going to start looking at the positives now. One thing that I think is my issue is that my account is too heavily weighted to certain tipsters. There is a good reason for that - in so much that success justifies it. However when there's a few bets from SLH, for example, that don't go well, the winners from the other services don't make up the difference. That's certainly not the right way to do it.

Need to manage my portfolio better basically.

Mulling over pulling out of the TL golf service. Think I'm not enjoying golf betting that much. Forgot to put the bets on last night for this week and I keep doing that. Maybe the long term wait for results in golf is not for me. I like a bit of ticking over!! Although to be fair to them we've had a couple of places in the last couple of weeks so again hopefully things turning round there too.


I keep on promising to do some analysis on SLH - to get a view on 4pointers, and maybe see if it's just as good to play to level stakes. I will get round to it - but time is not something I have a huge amount of at the moment.

I'm away with work all week next week so that's challenging in itself getting the bets on is an extra challenge!!

This will probably be my last update in a few days, because of that but also because it's my wedding anniversary this weekend and we're away!! (will still be betting of course)....

Well that was a fair old ramble.

Hope the weekend is good to everyone!!

Cheers

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Shockaroonie!

Shocking start to the month of march. I've dropped best part of £400 in three days. Early days in the month obviously but starting this way doesn't help!

Will update properly tomorrow.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

January Update... Finally...

And it here it is.... In the end wasn't as good as i thought once I went through betfair stats! Tipping Legends Golf was in there as were a few Football Elite bets which hadn't been too successful over that period.

Nonetheless a decent profit for the first month of the year considering racing was wiped out for the first half of Jan and I didn't start betting again until 13 Jan following my hols.

Couple of points to note;

(1) The profit / points are based on the odds I got, not the odds quoted. This could be either because the odds weren't available, I don't have accounts with particular bookies, I have been restricted on particular bookies or because I was slow in getting the bet on. The work I do means that i can't always get to place bets immediately.
(2) There is a chance I've missed a few bets as I was so far behind in collating but hopefully the majority is there.

Interesting that in Jan 2009 I made £1,880 profit, 95% of which was generated by SLH. At that point I had subscribed only to a couple of services.
In Jan 2010, £690 profit with SLH standing out again, Equine Investments and also Each Way Pays delivering the goods.
What this does show is that diversification isn't doing me any good at the moment. If I stuck with who i see as my two key tipsters (SLH and Equine) I'd have made over £500 more. Food for thought....

Monday, March 1, 2010

January Update... Finally... well almost

Managed to almost finalise my January figures... at the beginning of March!! A wee bit behind but I've nearly caught up with February so won't be too long after.

Will provide a bit more detail as soon as I can - but made in region of £900 so not too bad - SLH and Equine providing the bulk of the profit.

More to follow - sorry not be on as much recently - things have been a little crazy!

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Thursday Update

Been a busy week at work so not been able to update as much as I would've liked.

Couple of bets of note today;

SLH had a 1 pt win bet Lisdonagh House at 6/1 (tipped at 9/1 but I forgot to phone the line!!) which didn't deliver but no major damage done.

Mathematician continues in fine form with Resplendent Nova coming in - tipped at 13/2 - I got 6/1 (I was late with getting the bet on as I was in a meeting!). SP was down to 3/1 so great result there.

Cheers

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Quick Update

Quiet day on the racing front but a couple of account bets;

Mathematician good run came to an end with nothing with 2 e/w singles and an e/w dbl.

Equine Investments fantastic run continues Alfresco winning in the 3.40 at Lingfield. Best I could manage was 7/1 (8/1 was on offer in places) as I was a couple of minutes late picking the message up but still a very good win!!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Sorry Saturday

Busy day on the account on Saturday - always seems to be the case but doesn't necessarily mean that Saturdays are bumper profit days - yesterday being case in point. Not totted up the sums but suspect i came out of it quite a bit down.

Only real winning bets of note was Silver by Nature from 4PA in the 3.35 at Haydock - I got 6/1 but price drifted to 7/1 so BOG happy days - it all adds up!!

SLH had another 4 point win bet yesterday, Knockara Beua in the 2.15 at Ascot - I got 11/4 on this but the horse made mistakes and finished 4 lengths behind favourite Burton Point. I mentioned that I thought SLH hadn't had any 4 pt win bets in the time I've been with him but reviewed my stats and he certainly has with mixed results. Suppose I need to decide what I'm comfortable betting - £140 (i play £35 per point on SLH) for me is a lot of money on one horse. Wonder if I should move SLH to level stakes. I'm going to do some analysis and keep you posted on that.

Tipping Legends and Double The Odds both continuing poor runs overall. DTO especially - another 7 losers yesterday!!

Monday night is my usual stats up date night and will keep you up to date as to how things go.

No racing today i see due to the weather! A relaxing Sunday ahead then!

Friday, February 19, 2010

BOG On!

Very quiet on Thursday with only a couple of bets coming through.

Tipping Legends stick to their winning-ish ways with Anquetta coming 2nd in 2pm af Ffos Las - good thing here was tipped at 6/1 and SP of 11/1 which increased the profit.

Mathematician came out positive again today - nice to see some winners finally coming through. MAthematician is the tipping service i've been with the longest and it's been a roller coaster but I enjoy the extra analysis put into messages.

Equine had one tip yesterday - 20/1 shot that by the time i managed to get into bet (i was in a meeting) price had crashed to 12/1 in most places. Think i was 25 mins behind the game - but in the end it was a non runner so while I would've appreciated at 12/1 winner I would've been gutted at loosing out of getting on at 20/1!! A double edged sword!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

The dream is still alive!!

And so it is with a good winning day yesterday thanks to both SLH and Tipping Legends.

Tipping Legends have started turning the corner hopefully with a 4.5pt profit from Thedreamstillalive coming in 2nd at 16/1 - hopefully this is indeed a turning point!

SLH had two account bets with Plum Pudding doing the job at 9/2 in the 3.10 at Leicester. Happy days. The other bet Sir Punjabi didn't do so well which meant my each way double I always do with SLH acct bets where there is an opportunity didn't come in.

A good, profitable day!! More later hopefully!! Does feel like SLH is really on form at the moment which is good news for me!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Rotten Day

Wasn't much happening on the tipping lines today but what did happen wasn't very good!!

Tipping Legends poor run of form continues dropping another 5 points today with Tri Chara and Snow Day both coming unstuck at Southwell. Really is a poor run of form from Tipping Legends but the ability is there - seen from some results towards the end of the year and a couple of decent winners can change everything. I'm not worried... yet!!

Each Way value had a couple of qualifiers - the only one I got matched at min odds on Betfair was Cheery Cat who did hee haw. Fuzzy Cat won that race. Bizarre.

Interesting Equine Investments didn't have any bets today but did briefly go over 3 races in Southwell - all he got spot on!! Quality tipping. Must remember to sort my subs out for this year before the deadline

Anyway hopefully better racing tomorrow!

Monday, February 15, 2010

Mixed Bag

Mixed bag today all in all - stung by a whopping 4 pointer from SLH which came in 2nd. Not sure I remember a 4 point single bet from Steve before!!

So in the end it wasn't too be and in the 4.30 at Plumpton Bormo finished a massive 15 lengths behind AP McCoy ridden, N Henderson trained Tanks for That. Frustrating - AP McCoy has been a nemisis for me to a certain extent - tried to get into the laying game a few months ago and got stung a wee bit laying his rides!! Was tinkering rather than being serious so it was my own fault.

Anyhow the rest looked like this;

Equine came up with Tropical Blue - best odds I could get 3/1. An each way bet which I thought was a bit strange but duly came in 2nd so I wasn't too unhappy with getting the majority of my stake back

Poor day again from Tipping Legends - both De Boitron and Ellen Tilley not delivering so another 6 points down. I'm just totting up my spreadsheets and isn't looking too pretty.

Only other quick mention is had an account bet win from the mathematician in the shape of Miami Gator so happy with that!!

Just adding my 2010 figures up and almost finished January. Looking like an excellent month for Equine Investments, SLH and Each Way Value and not so good for the rest (especially Tipping Legends).

Will provide more detail as soon as I'm done with that!!

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Back to Singing the Blues

Well after yesterday with a 12.75pt profit made on SLH double thinking my luck had turned back to another dismal day today.

SLH has upped the number of bets recently which is great but another 3pointer failed to deliver today. That's big bets which I'm not sure are delivering the goods to be honest - something I need to analyse as I've always been wary of the big bets from SLH - sometimes make me wonder if it's worth just playing level stakes. Shouldn't really complain as we're in profit for the week from SLH and really that's what its all about. Long term long term long term!

Tipping Legends stinking form continues though with another 9 points down again today. Only bet from Equine was a non runner.

Miserable, my happiness short lived but I think maybe a corner is being turned! Still treading water though - no more. no less.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Groundhog Day

Another quiet, losing day yesterday. Hopefully things will begin to pick up.

2 more losers from Double the Odds - dread to think what their stats look like for 2010 but not be pretty once I add it all up I'm sure.

Punter Profits selection lost as did Mocho - a strong 4 point bet from Tipping Legends who are on a shocking run at the moment.

Only bright spot was Veronicas Boy finishing 2nd for Each Way Qualifiers but no way made up for the above!!

Poor poor poor!!

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Invisible Profits

Monday was a quiet day but another losing day so not too happy!! Had a hard day putting bets on as I was travelling again.

Biggest bet of the day was 3 point win from SLH who I got on at 11/4 with ladbrokes so just above the min of 5/2. And invisible man was just that finishing 6th. Not great for a big bet in my book.

Equine and Mathematician both put horses up in the 3pm at Wolverhampton - Geezers Colours from Equine recommended at 8/1 (I got 11/2) and Ravi River from Mathematician (I got got best odds guarantee at 9/4). Surprisingly (without being mean) Mathematician did the job!!

Still a losing day overall, compounded by Double the Odds miserable run continuing!!

Feel like little progress being made at the moment. Hopefully the corner will turn!

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Shockaroony

Dismal day indeed with a complete wipeout with not one single bet placed coming in!!

Equine Investments, SLH and the Mathematician stayed off the account today so not a huge amount happening but Tipping Legends drew a blank knocking another 11pts off. Punter Profits, Double the Odds and Football Elite all doing nothing as well!!

And here was me hoping for a good weekend after Newcastle winning 5-1 last night!!

Feels like very little progress being made since the start of the year. Haven't finalised my 2009 figs or 2010 yet so will need to see how things are going. Not very well is probably the answer!!

Equine subs are due by 1 April as well so need to start winning some cash!!

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Back at home! Back on track?

Back at home today. Didn't manage to get all the bets on today as I'm continuing to struggle with the Orange reception on my iphone - driving me barmy at the moment!

Anyway was a good day with a profit on what I did get on thankfully!

SLH recommended an each way dbl - both horses coming in the places and resulting on a return of stake so nothing lost there.

Couple of horse from Tipping Legends - with Benfleet Boy doing the goods giving me a 4.2pt profit on the day with them and Equine Investments, Follow the Flag not doing anything at all in the 5.20 at Wolverhampton.

Trying to do basic updates wherever I can so will come to what i call my ramblings when I have more time!

Monday, February 1, 2010

Quick Update

Been a busy time with work as I continue to tour the country with work putting extra pressure on the old bets!!

Nothing much happening with things today. 5 mentions (i think they were all mentions) from Equine Investments delivered a small profit on the day so can't argue with that.

Tipping Legends poor run continues - Grand Honour losing at Wolverhampton - 2 pt loss.

Generally feels like I'm treading water at the moment.

Monday, January 25, 2010

One Step Forward, One and Half Steps Back!

Slow day today with another win from Equine Investments - Marosh 6/5 in the 1.45 at Wolverhampton. Best price available was the recommended 5/4 but not with any of the bookies I currently have cash with!! Need to shuffle the money about and get that back in order.

3 losing bets from Tipping Legends turned into a losing day overall with 7 points lost. Didn't get on at any of the recommended prices on their bets - this was more because i was slow on getting the bets on and because bookies appear to be shifting Tipping Legends prices quicker. Jeremiah has done well to address this though usually with a short note each morning giving the approximate time of delivery of message. Good move there but not good for me when i'm stuck in a meeting at the time the bet comes through.

This is the reality of trying to successfully bet when working full time unfortunately and once again I'm on the road again for the remainder of the week and staying with friends over the weekend so gonna be a tough week overall on the betting front.

Interesting stats from Football Elite today about price movements on their bets so think I'll try to change my strategy in terms of timing of bets - at the moment it looks like I'm betting at the lowest point and it'll be easy to increase ROI by following the advice. Great service Football Elite - faultless this season i'd say.

Will update as much as I can while I'm away.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Topsy Turvy & Iphone pain

After posting a great week on Thursday night, the weekend hasn't been so good with not a winner to sniff at on the horses. I'm finding it a struggle to get prices on at the moment and am missing the best. Betting at the moment overall is a struggle. I would say that 95% of all my bets are placed on the move and while my iphone is a great tool it's not delivering completely on the betting front - a few reasons;

1) The betfair app for the iphone is a poor man version of their standard mobile app which is really disappointing - you can't see market depth or place a bet at SP which you can on the general mobile app.

2) Picking up reception is no better than my old handset which i was disappointed with. Think that is more to do with Orange network not being the greatest where I live but it's frustrating as I though the Iphone would be better with weaker signals. More fool me!

3) Everytime I have to flick out the Ladbrokes application I need to login again and start from the front page! Frustrating! Not sure of a way round this!

4) Bet2Go isn't working properly and I have the same probs as the Ladbrokes app!

So all in all frustrating when you need to move quickly and get bets on. Suppose I'll get used to it but it's taking time!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Great week, hard work

As I mentioned in my last post I've been away with work all week sorting the bets on has been hard. But it's certainly been worth while. Equine investments have been on fire and 4pa boosted profits today. Will provide a full update asap. Like I mentioned i wanted to focus on the difficulties of getting prices when out and about.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Super Saturday

After a terrible time towards the end of the year I was really beginning to doubt some of the decisions I had taken in terms of trying to earn a decent 2nd income from betting. The whole game had lost it's sparkle, it's enjoyment and it wasn't a lot of fun.

Going on holiday and finally making the decision not to bet while I was away was just the ticket and I came back earlier this week re-invigorated! Putting the bets on on Wednesday felt like fun again and I felt like it all had a purpose again. My first post of 2010 was positive even though at that point it looked like it was going to be a losing day.

It's good to feel that way again and my mood is helped very much with a stunning day today with Equine Investments and Steve Lewis Hamilton leading the way with decent price winners. Another solid day from Tipping Legends as well. If my records are correct that was SLH's first out and out winner since 17 November so very very pleased with that.

Highlights of the day for me were;

SLH - Iconoclast (11/2) - 2.05pm in Kempton (2pt win)
Equine - Exceedthewildman (8/1) - 2.40 Lingfield (1pt win)
TL - GeeDeeNan (25/1) - 2.45 Kempton (1pt e/w).

Not so good today from 4PA or Double the Odds (although DTO produced 2 places out of 3 bets so on the right track). But this is what it's all about - having enough on the go to produce a profit even when some fail to deliver, but as I said Wed / Thurs not too many to make it unmanageable.

What I'm going to do this is year is to display the odds I get vs. odds quoted by the tipsters. More often than not I don't get bang on odds quoted and I want to try to portray how difficult it is to do so - more because of the reality of the way I run things (and the flaws in that) rather than how realistic the tipster is. For example - best price may be with Skybet but my account with them is restricted and effectively closed so I have to go elsewhere or I whack the cash on through Ladbrokes as it's the quickest way of doing it on the go or best price is with a bookie I haven't opened an account with yet. etc etc.

Talking of restriced accounts - I'm no high roller but some bookies have restricted my account - named and shamed below (none of whom I've won more than a couple of grand with - which is amazing);

Skybet.com - all bets - I was told that they were "running a business" so had to restrict my account.

Sportingbet.com - all bets - stitched me up with their free bet offer when I opened the account (they refused to give me the free bet promised - when I queried - I was told they didn't have to give a reason and their decision was final). Was quite pleased I took some money off them before they restricted by account.

Blue Sq
- all bets - although manageable as restrictions aren't too bad and a bit random for some reason. E/w definite no no and golf bets capped at about £2!!

Boylesports - golf / darts - very very quick to restrict these bets (especially the darts). Ok still with horse racing and very generous with free bets which is a definite plus. Certainly wary of going through oddschecker with them.

So with more restrictions it gets harder and harder.

Anyway a great day overall and a brilliant start to 2010 - long may it continue.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Skipping through the snow...

Well Indian Skipper did the job last night at Kempton winning at 20/1 for the Each Way Value system. Meant the first day back in business was a winning day for me which you can't ask better than that for!!

Quiet-ish again today with not much happening - Equine Investments put up Copper King in the 2pm at Lingfield which came 2nd after just about leading in the final furlong so nothing happening. Missed the recommended price of 6/1 as I was out for lunch with my boss... and only got 9/2 15 mins before the race. Did notice that SP was 6/1 - unusual to see an Equine tip drift.

Tipping Legends had one non runner and one third place producing a small profit for their tips on the day - Orpsie Boy coming in at 12/1 SP so got best odds for that. Couple of selections from Each Way Value today in the 17.10 at Wolverhampton with Resplendant Ace pipped into 4th so no return there. Overall a small losing day but still in profit for the year!!

Need to do a few things over the next few days - tot up my total for 2009, need to set some targets for 2010 and as I mentioned before re-assess my portfolio. Going to be hard with work commitments meaning I'm away from home pretty much for the next three weeks but at least my new iphone is doing the trick in terms getting bets on quickly and easily so happy with that Christmas present!!

Initial thoughts are that I reckon I made about £9,000 before deductions in 2009 - going down to about £6,000 after taking off expenses. So I think I'm going to aim for about £15,000 this year (aiming for £10k profit). If I achieve anywhere near that I'll be well pleased indeed!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Belated Happy New Year....

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year. I'm just back from 3 weeks break visiting friends in warmer climes so bit of a shock being back and the snow is still here. Reality bites big time tomorrow when i head back to work...

Anyway I tried to keep up betting over the period I was away but in the end I gave up after the 2nd day - the time difference was too much, the cost of calls / downloads was greater than I thought and I felt I needed time to relax rather than worry about getting bets on. So the phone was switched off and left like that - felt after getting the 3pt 10/1 shot from Tipping Legends it was time to stop pushing it!

Probably in the end not a bad time to be away - no idea what's happened on the betting front since I've been away but with so much racing and football called off I hopefully haven't missed a too much.

Back onto the betting today and no luck with my first Equine bet of the year with Kings Miracle not playing the game. Nicky Henderson got a treble at Southwell today but couldn't make it a four fold with Chef Junior - the only selection from Punter Profits today. Got a couple of runners in Kempton later through the Each Way Value system so will see how they go.

Hopefully 2010 will be as good as 2009 - going away has made me take stock as to what I was doing. Come to the conclusion that in the time I've got to bet I'm following too many services and the cost is too great so I'm going to cull some from the portfolio. The Sporting Life golf tips are the first ones to go for me - too much proportion of my investment relatively spent on golf and feels like I need to just focus with the Tipping Legends golf service. Others will follow - clearly based on performance.

Will keep the blog more updated also so please keep coming back if you are reading!